I was once on holiday in Paignton. I saw a car pull into a car park. The vehicle pulled into an empty space allocated for the disabled. The

driver placed a blue car badge on the dash board.

The driver then climbed gingerly from his seat and his wife proceeded to alight from the vehicle from the passenger side.

The driver limped very badly for at least 50 metres with his wife helping him along. After another 50 metres he began to walk without

the limp.

It was a miracle! Who takes the credit for that then?

Or was it just the sea air?

smiler wrote:

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She is to be sainted after Pope Frances recognised a second miracle attributed to her. Apparently (details are sketchy) someone prayed for her to help someone who had a tumour and he got better. Whether she ever prayed for him is unclear. What a load of *******s. Who is next - St Peter Popoff? Saint Doris Stokes? St Derren Brown? It just brings the catholic church into disrepute doesn't it? This links to another recent thread about religion and it is a subject I vowed not to go near but millions of people believe this nonsense. If there is a God, God help us.

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 It's not God.

It's not spirituality. 

It's not faith. 

All these values, beliefs , ideas are valid expressions of the human experience. 

Clearly, there are those who aren't actually self aware, honest, or even actually committed to what they are connected to. This happens everywhere and Religion should not be confused with real spiritual experience. 

The established churches never had a living experience otherwise they would not have become so dogmatic. 

Her reputation has been tarnished so much it's difficult to know what the truth is about her motivation regarding her much vaunted sacrificial work nevermind anything as peculiar as miracles.

Whether she deserved the hounding Hitchens and others subjected her reputation to is unclear.

On the surface she seemed sincere and extremely committed to doing good.
Accusations about links to organised crime and being aligned with facist (catholic) agenda seem a little obsessive.

In some ways I wish the church just do what everyone else did if it wishes to acknowledge one of its own.